Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV) is a live acoustic/electronic improvisational group formed in Rome, Italy, in 1966. Defined as "something of an irregular institution, a band that has come together intermittently through the years",[1] Musica Elettronica Viva's founding members were Allan Bryant, Alvin Curran, Jon Phetteplace and Frederic Rzewski,[2] Richard Teitelbaum.[1] and Carol Plantamura.[3] Other members include Ivan Vandor and Steve Lacy.[4] Garrett List and George E. Lewis subsequently joined the group.[1]
Musica Elettronica Viva were early experimenters in the use of synthesizers. A 1967 performance in Berlin featured a rendition of John Cage's Solo for Voice 2 with Plantamura's voice transformed through a Moog synthesizer. At the end of the 1960s, they took part in the group Lo Zoo, founded by artist Michelangelo Pistoletto. They also used such "non-musical" objects as amplified panes of glass and olive oil cans.
Their performances achieved mainstream notoriety in Italy for generating vocal audience dissent, occasionally resulting in riots.[citation needed]
Musica Elettronica Viva disbanded in 2017 after a final tour.[5]
Both of the above first issued in 2001 on CD as "Spacecraft/Unified Patchwork Theory" (Alga Marghen, Plana-M 15NMN.038).